In the strategic and apparently puposeful deception of a trusting public, Alberta’s Oil Patch Daily (a.k.a., the Calgary Herald) and University of Calgary political science Professor Barry Cooper are exuberant co-conspirators.

Reasonable evidence appears in the column that Cooper pens weekly for the Herald, a pulpit that he used most recently to accuse actual climate scientists of committing “ethical transgressions” because they continue to share research pointing to the greatest environmental catastrophe in human history.

This is a man who created a University slush fund with which he tried to conceal the source of oil-patch funding for FOS activities. Through this account, Cooper enabled FOS to kick back tax deductions even though FOS doesn’t qualify for taxpyer subsidy. Cooper personally wrote cheques from the fund (some as large as $100,000), to PR firms that were engaged in an ongoing misleading campaign on climate change, overstepping his authority at the least and illegally siphoning off money at the worst, and he violated U of C rules by diverting some of the trust fund cash to “employ” his wife and daughter.

For these “transgressions” there is no record that the U of C has enacted any penalties whatever. And Herald readers will be blissfully unaware of Cooper’s adventures as the paper has not seen fit to share this information in its news pages.

Of course, this is a rag that will tell the truth when compelled to do so in court, but that falters when it comes to sharing actual factual information with its readers. An example of this can be found in the Herald’s treatment of Friend of ScienceTim Ball, whom the paper lauded as the first climate change PhD in the country. When University of Lethbridge Professor Dan Johnson wrote to correct the record (the unreliable Ball is no such thing), the Herald wound up apologizing publicly to Ball and giving due attention to Ball’s ensuing lawsuit against Johnson.

But in court documents, the Herald’s lawyers dismissed Ball as “a paid promoter of the agenda of the oil and gas industry rather than as a practicing scientist.” This information, however, was never printed in the newspaper, and the Herald has never apologized to Dan Johnson, regardless of the damage done to his reputation when Ball filed the lawsuit and then cancelled it quietly when it became obvious that Johnson would not be bullied.

In his most recent Herald column, Cooper says, “This is an ethical or political problem, not a problem in climate science,” in reference to an undated quote from a web designer who is trying to suggest that serious scientists are backing away from the climate change consensus. If James Peden were a serious scientist, he might be in a better position to comment, but Cooper is correct: this IS an ethical or political problem, NOT a problem in climate science. It’s time that Cooper sidled up to a mirror and inquired as to how the continuation of this ethical and political problem can be justified.

And it’s time the Calgary Herald came clean. Turf Barry Cooper, or post for reader information the extent of his Machiavellian political history. And apologize to Dan Johnson. For responsibility, for decency and - if it’s of any interest - for accuracy, it’s the least you must do.

Previous Comments

Barry Cooper has overstepped journalistic morals and etiquette by his noxious diatribe against climate scientists. Cooper has shown a lack of ethical behaviour in both his dealings at the University of Calgary regarding funding of the anti-science organization misnamed “Friends of Science” and in his disservice to intelligent readers of the Calgary Herald.

His article is full of misinformation and distortion of the truth regarding what is happening in climate science today.

It is becoming more and more obvious to people who understand science and how it operates that Cooper is not being honest in his various articles on AGW.

I would hope that both the Editors of the Herald and the University of Calgary administration would offer an apology for this type of journalistic and academic dishonesty, but I am not holding my breath”.

I will also not be holding my breath waiting for the Herald to publish my letter since I have not been having a good success ratio with them recently.

I wouldn’t expect the Herald to make much effort printing it either. I am hopeful, though, as I read the news this morning that the tide is turning. Barry Cooper, Christopher Booker (Telegraph), and others like them will have more difficulty finding an audience once Obama’s administration is in place. It will take time, but what a diffierence it will make to have someone in the White House who actually understands what a “smart grid” is and can make the link to plug-in cars! (http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/prius-its-not-just-a-car-its-an-emergency-generator/).

People like Cooper will be left standing there wondering what hit them. Pathetic, really.

I upped the rating again. I don’t read the Herald often anymore, but I believe at least one of its editors and some writers are creationists; in other words, not credible on any scientific opinion that they may express.

Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.

There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.